Letter to Giulio Superti-Furga: My day at the Utopia Institute of Research (UIR)
Michael Hinz
Dear Giulio,
You recently asked me how I liked the position as Scientific Director of the UIR. As you know, I share the job with Isabell, who came to Berlin from Barcelona two years ago. This way we have more time for our own research and our families. The best thing for me to tell you is how my day went yesterday.
To get to UIR, I usually ride my bike a bit and then get on the subway. Most of our employees use this option to get to work and utilize the attractive job ticket offered by UIR. I put my bike in the rack, get a cappuccino from the vending machine and read the annual evaluation report of our Mentoring & Sponsoring Program.
Yesterday, I started at 8:30 with a 15-minute stand up with the Directorate team. We meet twice a week to report on current tasks and to discuss how we can support each other. Next, I had the Annual Performance Review Meeting with Sebastian, who works for me as a scientific officer. To prepare, I used the remaining time to take a look at our Employee Information System App and check which goals and measures we agreed on last year.
At 10 am, I met Madita, who heads the Technical Facility Management department. Over the past ten years, she and her team have repeatedly discussed needs with our scientists and developed a concept for the energy refurbishment of the campus. As you know, research buildings are energy guzzlers. Madita and her team were able to curb their appetite: A new laboratory structure, innovative ventilation systems and energy-efficient IT devices have reduced energy consumption by 70%. She reported that the UIR is now self-sufficient in energy. Photovoltaic modules can be seen everywhere on the roofs. But also on the facades, and even on the windows, colored or transparent solar cells are installed. As you know, in recent years, we have been seeing an increase in solar intensity, so the solar modules sometimes produce too much electricity. At the UIR we convert the excess solar power into hydrogen to run a combined heat and power plant. There's also a lot going on underground. A local heating network has been installed, linking our buildings together and enabling an optimization of available energy sources such as geothermal energy, waste heat from our supercomputer and even heat from wastewater, which we consume on a daily basis.
After this exiting excursion I met Francois. He is the head of the purchasing and logistics department at UIR. We talked about the purchase of new 3-D printers, which will enable us to independently produce sterile small-scale microfluidics and matrix systems for our 2-D and 3-D cell culture systems. As raw material we use Mycoplast, an organic substance produced by fungi. The printed products have the advantage that they can be easily cleaned, decontaminated and recycled by our UV-ultrasonic machines after use. Several working groups have tested the new 3-D printer in a pilot phase and are totally enthusiastic. To meet the needs for cell culture work, UIR will purchase ten of these novel 3-D printers.
It is fascinating to see how work in biomedical laboratories has changed in recent years. With new increasingly sensitive methods of measurement such as mini-mass spectrometry devices, it is possible to perform experiments with very small amounts of biological material. The development of recycled products and new biomaterials has completely replaced the plastic products that were common in the past. Moreover, much less cooling capacity is needed. At UIR, two adjacent workgroups typically share one ULT freezer, which of course operates at a temperature of 70°C. The quantity of hazardous materials has also changed. Much of what we used to use is no longer needed. Therefore, the number of fume hoods and the air changes required for occupational safety have been drastically reduced in the UIR laboratories.
After talking with the two department heads, I then had a meeting with Laura and Mateusz, who are part of the LGBTQ interest group. They want to celebrate the Pride Day 2033 with a campaign about recent developments in inclusive and gender-responsive language. I promised them, that the UIR will provide a necessary financial support.
For lunch, I had an appointment with my board team. We opted for a vegan Buddha Bowl, which was delicious as always.
In the afternoon I dedicated myself to my scientific working group. We are still developing new versions of remotely controlled cell-permeable nanomachines. In my absence, the group is taken care of by Tomáš, who has a permanent position in my group as a senior postdoc. Yesterday we had our weekly meeting, where everyone briefly tells how the experiments are going. As always, there were very constructive discussions, which help to ensure that students usually complete their PhDs successfully after four years.
Afterwards I had a conversation with Marija, she has been working as a postdoc in my group for two years. Together we talked about the next EU-Life conference in Lisbon. I am invited to talk about our latest achievement, a nano-camera drone, which we have developed together with our colleagues of the Ultra-Imaging platform. Marija showed me the latest videos, produced by our drone. It is so cool to watch ribosomes at work in 3-D on our tablets. I suggested her that we should share the presentation in Lisbon.
Finally, yesterday I had a video conference with my EU-Life colleagues from Moscow and Kiev. Together our teams are working on a funding proposal for a trilateral doctoral school. Together we want to explore gene editing therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. I hope we are successful and can promote the exchange between our countries in this way in the future.
At 6 pm I biked all the way home and reviewed the day. Giulio, I hope you can imagine that it is a great pleasure to work at the UIR.
Best regards
Michael Hinz
- Header image created with Bing KI
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Used prompt text
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Create a picture of a scientific city in the future in blue/pink tones according to the following ideas:
You recently asked me how I like the position of Scientific Director at the UIR. As you know, I share the position with Isabell, who came to Berlin from Barcelona two years ago. This way we have more time for our own research and our families. I can best tell you how my day went yesterday.
On the way to UIR, I usually cycle a bit and then change to the S-Bahn. Most of our employees use this option to get to work. They make use of the attractive job ticket offered by UIR. I put my bike in the rack, grab a cappuccino from the vending machine and read the annual evaluation report of our Mentoring & Sponsoring program.
Yesterday I started at 8:30 a.m. with a 15-minute stand-up meeting with the Executive Board team. We meet twice a week to discuss current tasks and how we can support each other. I then had the annual meeting with Sebastian, who works as a research assistant in my team. To prepare myself, I used the remaining time to take a look at our HR information app and check what goals and measures we had agreed on last year.
At 10 a.m., I met Madita, who heads the Technical Facility Management department. Over the past 10 years, she and her team have repeatedly talked to our scientists about their needs and developed a concept for the energy-efficient refurbishment of the campus. As you know, research buildings are real energy wasters. Madita and her team kept a tight rein: a new laboratory structure, innovative ventilation systems and energy-efficient IT equipment have reduced energy consumption by 70%. She says that the UIR is now energy self-sufficient. Photovoltaic modules can be seen everywhere on the roofs. But there are also colored or transparent solar cells installed on the facades and even on the windows. As you know, we have noticed in recent years that solar intensity is increasing; as a result, the solar panels sometimes produce too much electricity. At the UIR, we convert the excess solar power into hydrogen to run a combined heat and power plant. Things are also happening underground. We have a campus energy system that connects our buildings and makes optimal use of various available energy sources - such as geothermal energy, waste heat from our supercomputer and even heat from wastewater that we use every day.
After this exciting excursion, I met François. He is the head of the purchasing and logistics department at UIR. We talked about the purchase of new 3D printers that will allow us to produce small-scale sterile microfluidics and matrix systems for our 2D and 3D cell culture systems. We use Mycoplast, an organic substance produced by fungi, as a raw material. The printed products have the advantage that they can be easily cleaned and decontaminated after use by our combined ultrasound-UV machines and recycled at the end. Several working groups have tested the new 3D printer in a pilot phase and are totally enthusiastic. In order to meet the demand for cell culture work, the UIR will purchase ten of these innovative 3D printers.
It is fascinating to see how work in biomedical laboratories has changed in recent years. With new increasingly sensitive measurement methods such as mini mass spectrometry devices, it is possible to carry out experiments with very small amounts of biological material. The development of recycled products and new biomaterials has completely replaced the plastic products used in the past. In addition, much less cooling capacity is required. At the UIR, two neighboring working groups usually
two neighboring work groups have a ULT freezer, which is of course operated at a temperature of -70°C. The amount of hazardous substances has also changed. Much of what we used to use is no longer needed. As a result, the number of fume cupboards and the required air changes for occupational safety in the UIR laboratories have been drastically reduced.
After the discussions with the two department heads, I then had a meeting with Laura and Mateusz, who are part of the LGBTQ interest group. They want to celebrate Pride Day 2033 with a campaign on current developments in inclusive and gender-equitable language. I promised them that the UIR would provide the necessary financial support.
For lunch, I had an appointment with my board team. We decided on a vegan Buddha Bowl, which was delicious as always.
In the afternoon, I turned my attention to my scientific working group. We are still developing new versions of remote-controlled cell-permeable nanomachines. In my absence, Tomáš, who is a permanent senior postdoc in my group, is taking care of this. Yesterday we had our weekly meeting where everyone reports briefly on how the experiments are going. As always, there were very constructive discussions, which contribute to the fact that most students successfully complete their PhDs after four years.
I then had a conversation with Marija, who has been working as a postdoc in my group for two years. Together we talked about the next EU Life Conference in Lisbon. I was invited to talk about our latest achievement, a nano camera drone that we developed together with our colleagues from the ultra-imaging team. Marija showed me the latest videos produced by our drone. It is so fascinating to see ribosomes at work in 3D on our tablets. I suggested to her that we present the results together in Lisbon.
Finally, yesterday I had a video conference with my EU Life colleagues from Moscow and Kiev. Our teams are working together on a funding application for a trilateral doctoral school. Together we want to research gene therapy approaches for neurodegenerative diseases. I hope that we are successful and can promote exchange between our countries in this way in the future.
At 6 p.m., I cycled home and reflected on the day. Giulio, I hope you can imagine how great it is to work at the UIR.
